Nothin' Better to Do!!

My husband should just never leave town... I am pathetic without him!!
I got home from work, then school, then visiting teaching (nothing like waiting until the end of the month!!!) to finally catch up on my e-mail and look at friend's blogs. That is not the pathetic part... oh, just wait...
I found a quiz on the Crookston's blog about what Disney princess Cori was and thought it would be way fun to see who I was...

SO...

45 minutes later I have found a great deal about myself and who I truly am...

Apparently if I were a Disney Princess I would be Jasmine, If I was a character in Alice in Wonderland I would be Alice, I am "no geek in sight" on the how geeky are you test (apparently the test had no idea it was the third quiz I had taken tonight to find my identity!!!)
if I were some shoes I would be high heels, and if I were a clothing line I would be Hollister...

...then my phone rang and I realized that I should find something more productive to do...
like BLOG!!!

I Wanna Be A Cowgirl, Baby

Last weekend my mom and I drove up to Montana to visit Christina and her new puppy Dash on the ranch and see, first hand, what Ranch life is really like!! We got up there on Thursday afternoon and stole Christina away from work then went to what my husband calls "the happiest place in the world" (and no, I don't mean Disney World...) COSTCO!! We got stuff for our Pumpkin Carving party with one of Chad's best friends, Brett Walker, and his cute kids before going to the pumpkin patch. We got to even go on a hay ride... fun stuff!!! So we carved pumpkins and had soup in the cutest ever bread bowls that had made the trip from Dan's since they are so cute and look like pumpkins..they even have the green handle on top!! The scary pumpkins I try to carve never look very good so I decided to take Martha Stewarts advice and carve flowers on it instead! To my disappointment, however not to my surprise, they did NOT look like Martha's!! And of course, my sister had to "one-up" me and make a very beautiful flower on hers... no daisy's for her!!! My cute mom stuck to the traditional jack-o-lantern idea with the square eyes, triangle nose and mouth with the teeth... you know the kind!!! They are getting so high-tech these days with the options for carving!! You can do Frankenstein or a princess or a Pirate... all beyond me!!!
After that we did the typical Girl's weekend stuff - shopping, eating, more shopping until early Sunday morning when the real ranching experience started...emphasis on the EARLY part!! The ranch hands had spent Saturday bringing down the cows and calf's for what they call "Shipping". The baby calfs get weighed and sold off... the more they weigh the more they cost apparently, and all the while the mamma cows are hanging out Moo-ing, being so sad!! My mom and I were "fence-sitters" while we watched Brett and Bob poke the calves onto the scale then Christina helped them close the doors behind them so that they could move on the to next leg of their journey... Quite a process!!! And SO dirty!! It had rained earlier on Sunday (before my mom and I had woken up to go out to the shipping party already going on outside!!) so that didn't help things in the dirty department! I will never understand how they can spend $350 or more on a pair of boots then be totally okay sloshing around in the mud and poop and everything else. I can tell you if I had $350 boots they would not get close to mud or poop...but that is totally cool to ranchers apparently!!! After the actual "shipping" process it was time for the mamma cows to have their turn... except they are not as lucky as just getting weighed then going on a ride on a big semitruck. No, the mamma cows get "preg-tested"...yes, exactly what you are thinking but it is, in fact, worse than you are thinking!! At least for the poor guy DOING the preg-testing!! I will spare you the details but the poor soul has a plastic or latex glove that goes almost to his shoulder... Yeah... Um... Yeah... he must have lost a bet at one point or another... that is the only thing I can think!! So while that is going on, one person is spraying them with something, another person is giving them a shot, and the last person is cutting their hair so that the tags show. It is quite a process and very interesting but I was totally cool being the fence sitter with my mom!! Actually, I would have loved to be on a horse - maybe next time I can be like a real Cowgirl!!!!
We had a fun weekend with Christina and can't wait until the next time we can go up... there is talk of a Ski trip to Big Sky in February! Hmmmm....!

Let It Rock...

For those of you who have taken an art history class and have a general understanding of fine art work I invite you to read on and appreciate. For those with limited knowledge and understanding of fine art work prepare yourself to be enlightened. Many of you may be familiar with the "Vitruvian Collection" by TMS Inc found at world-class museums and your local "TJ Max Home Goods" retailer.

The "Rock On" Statue

After countless wishes on shooting stars, fallen eyelashes and pennies found in parking lots across the nation my wish was granted...I found the Vitruvian "Rock On" piece at my very own TJ Max Home Goods. Alright, in all honestly I never knew this fine piece of artwork existed so my countless wishes were specifically for the "Rock On" sculpture but had I known it existed they would have been that I would find one. Needless to say upon its discovery I found myself in a vicious internal battle, "Would Rosie be angry that I purchased the statue?" and "If I did purchase it would she allow me to proudly display it?" I pondered over the little pamphlet that came with the statue that says,

"Rock on" (Corna in ancient Greece) was a gesture to ward off bad luck. In pop-culture, the gesture has been Widely used at rock concerts indicating a desire by fans to hear more music. The gesture was popularized by John Lennon, modern motion picture superheroes and sports fans meaning, "you rock!"

To summarize this several-minute ordeal my less logical side took over and I walked away without the sculpture wondering if I would ever see it again. When I returned home I told Rosie of my find to which she told me she needed to find a table at TJ Max so I asked her to see if by chance the treasured statue was still there. Upon arriving at the store, miraculously she found this magnificent sculpture! My sweet wife is extremely smart; she knew that if she were to purchase the statue it would allow her to purchase several other things she found in the course of her shopping excursion.

Upon her return home she informed me that I could proudly display the statue next to our TV in the front room. There it proudly stood...until one week ago when I was informed that my statue would be replaced with some seasonal wooden pumpkins. To which I informed Rosie that the "Rock On" symbol is timeless and will work for any season. Apparently my argument was not convincing enough to allow it to stay, so the statue is now found in the office, where it is more difficult for our visitors to appreciate.

After all, this artwork was inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci's, "Vitruvian Man" it is history and I want to allow others to appreciate it. If the statue is practically caged up in the office only Rosie and myself can appreciate it and I would feel bad that others missed out. So I come to those faithful readers of our blog to help me begin a petition to bring the state back to the front room by posting your belief that we should "Let it Rock" by the TV again.

The pumpkins that took the place of my statue!